Campaign Overview

The purpose of this research is to gain an understanding of the practice of yoga amongst tennis players in Savannah, Georgia. This insight will help to further implement a plan to promote awareness for Tenoga, a brand created by the Savannah Tennis Academy (STA) owner, Paul Amrein. Tenoga is a combination of tennis and yoga. It is used to break down specific tennis movements and postures, while providing relaxation and muscle memory.

The target audiences are Mr. Amrein’s clients at the Savannah Tennis Academy and the recreational tennis players at Forsyth and Bacon Park. Researchers are especially focused on getting research and insight on the correlation between tennis and yoga. It is believed that this information will provide the tools to inform our target audience of how participating in Tenoga classes can benefit them if they choose to go.

Background Research

Through a thorough amount of secondary research, it was found that there is a direct correlation between yoga and tennis. The correspondence is the key factor that will ultimately help the “Tenoga” brand thrive its way to a successful existence.

The Savannah Tennis Academy is an indoor and outdoor tennis facility, where clients of all ages come and receive individual or group tennis instruction. The Academy has been open for seven years, and has a growing cliental that features 200-300 different faces at the facility each week. Owner, Paul Amrein is an experienced tennis trainer, with over 25 years of stringing experience. According to Amrein, the Savannah Tennis Academy was created because he wanted to take tennis to greater horizons. Mr. Amrein takes pride in the basics and developing tennis players of all levels; he “embraces the teaching phase”.

Amrein has developed the merge of tennis and yoga practices, resulting it into his brand, “Tenoga” (Tennis + Yoga=Tenoga). According to Amrein, “Tenoga is the usage of yoga poses specifically designed for the betterment of tennis postures, stretching, and mobility, while improving flexibility.” In other words, Tenoga is a break down of basic but specific tennis movements and motions. Tenoga can benefit all levels of tennis. It will provide muscle memory, while giving his clients something that they can use in the comfort of their homes. Amrein claims that Tenoga will help tennis players understand their body and what muscles are working. Also, the poses can be used for similar sports like golf and baseball.

Yoga is defined as “a system of physical exercises, breath control, and meditation aimed at attaining bodily and mental control and well-being” (Saral, 2017, p.1). It is designed to bring physical, mental, and spiritual balance. Yoga enhances a persons’ muscular strength, endurance, flexibility mental sharpness, and mindfulness (Saral, 2017, p.1).

In the game of tennis, yoga is beneficial because it “can take you to a state of meditation” (Grout, 2001, p.52). It helps players be alert, focused and intense, but relaxed at the same time. According to sports psychologist and former pro-tennis player, Jena Marcovicci, "Research shows the discipline required for yoga can take you to a state of meditation. It releases endorphins, calms your pulse, and slows your nervous system. That's the zone you want to be in as you walk on the court" (Grout, 2001, p. 52). In tennis, players frequently use their shoulders, arm, wrist, legs, hips, and spine as they move from side to side, using their racquet to forcefully hit the ball across the net. “A yoga practice can be an important recovery tool to stretch tight muscles, encourage tissue resiliency, and address muscle asymmetries from what’s typically a one-sided sport” (Cruikshank, 2015).

Based on the research, tennis and yoga are one in the same. Yoga practices can ultimately create better tennis play on the mental, physical, and spiritual spectrum. Therefore, Paul Amrein’s claims and vision of the Tenoga brand seem to be accurate. Background research proves congruency but do tennis players really know the benefits of practicing Tenoga? To further explore, primary research was conducted about to analyze and configure the knowledge of yoga, tennis, and Tenoga amongst tennis players.

Plan

Campaign Goal: The overall purpose of the commercial/reputation campaign is to Increase Awareness of “Tenoga” amongst tennis players in Savannah, Georgia. Research was done, and it was learned that “Tenoga” lacks visibility amongst the target audience. Also, the target audience lacks knowledge of “Tenoga”. Therefore, a strategic plan will be implemented to spread awareness about “Tenoga” and the benefits of the class.

Print Advertisements/ Flyers will be distributed and hung up around the Tennis Academy. Print ads were selected because most of the participants surveyed agreed to being present at the academy at least twice per week if not more. The print ads will be something they see when they walk in the door and around the academy.

Institutional Advertising will be included because the more people enrolled at the academy, the more people are likely to sign up for the Tenoga class.

News Releases will be distributed through print and on the new Facebook page of the tennis academy. The news release will include who is invited to the event, what it is, where it will be held and when the event begins.

A News Kit will include a media advisory, a brochure, and a fact sheet. We will construct a brochure that can effectively inform athletes why Tenoga is important to the athletes and specially tennis players.

The Tenoga Experience Event will be hosted by Paul Amrein as an opportunity for the target audience to try Tenoga for the first time. The “Tenoga Experience” will take place at the Savannah Tennis Academy on Saturday, March 8h, 2017. The free 30 minute Tenoga trial sessions will be offered at 4:30 p.m.The “Tenoga Experience” is open for STA clients and local Savanah, GA. tennis players of all levels and ages.

Social Media

*Facebook will be our most used interactive media since 52% of participants admit that Facebook is the social media they use most frequently. We will be constructing Amrein a Facebook page made specifically for his Academy. To make the participants aware of our non-media channel (event) we will be creating an event on Facebook and will try to attract as many likes, shares and RSVPs as possible.

*Instagram will be implemented, however, only 16% of participants say that Instagram is their most used social media. It will be used for advertising, picture and video post.

*YouTube will also be utilized to post weekly videos of what the classes look like as well as the class size and the setting.

Web Advertisements will be created and placed on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram in order to present Mr. Amrein’s business to people searching the web.

Campaign Objectives:

Informational Objective: According to primary research, only 32% of the surveyed respondents have heard of “Tenoga”, leaving 68% unaware of its existence. With that being said the informational objective of this campaign is to increase awareness of “Tenoga” by Savanah GA tennis players by 50 percent by May 2016, leading to a rise in membership.

Motivational Objective: In connection to primary research, 95% of the surveyed respondents said that being and remaining fit is a priority in their life. Therefore, the motivational objective of this campaign is to motivate tennis players to add “Tenoga” classes to their fitness schedule by 60 percent by December 2017.

Target Audience: The target audience are tennis players of Savannah Georgia and members of the Savannah Tennis Academy (STA), between the ages 12 and under to 65 and older.

Key Strategies:

1.“By working through Mr. Paul Amrein, owner of the Savannah Tennis Academy, we will spread awareness of Tenoga to his clients by doing direct mail marketing and advertising”

2. By using a combination of social media and the STA website, we can advertise and market free “Tenoga” class trial sessions. This method will allow our target audience to experience and decide whether they like the class or not.

Messages and Themes

Key Message: The key message for our campaign is that Tenoga is beneficial for tennis and helps tennis players to improve their game.

Theme: “Tenoga, Tennis with a Yoga Twist”.

Campaign Channels & Strategies

The media channels we decided to utilize were the distribution and hanging of flyers and print advertisements at the Savannah Tennis Academy, Forsyth Park, and Bacon Park.

The non-media channels that we decided to utilize was the hosting of our event the “Tenoga Experience.” The Tenoga Experience is a free 30 minute Tenoga trial sessions that was offered at the Savannah Tennis Academy. The event is open for STA clients and local Savanah, GA. tennis players of all levels and ages. The free trial session was conducted by Mr. Paul Amrein, creator of Tenoga. Brochures and flyers were distributed at the event to encourage people to sign up for official Tenoga classes in August.

The interactive media channel that was utilized was a 15 second video, promoting the “Tenoga Experience.” Also, social media post were made as well. The post and video were put on the official Facebook and Instagram accounts. Also, a week long “countdown until the Tenoga Experience” on both Facebook and Instagram.

Findings

Pre- Campaign

Surprisingly, 70% of the participants say that they have been in involved in yoga before, whether it would be for athletic purposes of just something to do in their spare time.

When the participants were asked how often they went out and played tennis, nearly 2/3 of them responded by saying tennis was on their schedule more than one time a week. Out of the 50 interviewees, 40 practice yoga once a month or less. In an attempt to find out how, if at all, people are hearing about Tenoga, ten said it was from the tennis instructor himself, Mr. Paul Amrein. While, thirty- two have never heard of Tenoga prior to this survey. One discovery that will be beneficial to the campaign in terms of implentation is that 95% of the interviewees said that being healthy and in shape is a priority in their life. This next statistic follows well behind the previous because 74% said that they would like to be in a class that is at least 30 minutes. Finally, 33 people are willing to pay $15-$25 to for a Tenoga class. All of this data means that people are willing to spend the money and time to take the class, but getting them to participate in the class is the real dilemma. As far as ages go, the participants are scattered across the board. The majority of the people interviewd were of white decent, with African Americans falling behind with eight people, Hispanic seven, and Asian three.

Post- Campaign

According to a post survey, we were able to see that most of the results were positives in almost every category. Prior to the campaign, 42% of participants said that they practiced yoga once a month or less. At the end of the campaign, that number went up to 48%. When they were asked if they had seen Facebook posts about Tenoga, 54% said yes. Primary research demonstrated that only 20% of people surveyed use Instagram daily. Therefore, as expected, only 24% of people remember seeing a post about Tenoga on Instagram. 70% of people agree that yoga is good for athletes participating in sports. While it is only a small number, 9% of participants ended up going to the “Tenoga Experience” event. 60% of athletes said that if they were to take a Tenoga class, they would like for it to be held on a tennis court. Most importantly, after the campaign was over, 18% said that they will definitely be signing up for the Tenoga class come August. When asked if they were going to sign up for the class, 29% said maybe. 7 people already signed up for Tenoga classes in August.

Implementation

Deliverables

Evaluation

Campaign Goal

To increase the awareness of “Tenoga” amongst tennis players in Savannah, Georgia.

Campaign Objectives

* Informational Objective: To increase the awareness of “Tenoga” by Savanah GA tennis players by 50 percent by May 2016, leading to a rise in membership.

* Motivational Objective: To motivate tennis players to add “Tenoga” classes to their fitness schedule by 60 percent by December 2017.

Findings

Conclusion

Overall, the findings show that the campaign was somewhat successful. Being that it was a partial campaign and Tenoga classes do not start until August, it is difficult to say whether the campaign was totally successful or not. However, with thee data collected, it was made clear that more people are now aware of what Tenoga is. Based on the implementation of social media and posters, people are now signing up and talking more about Tenoga. Prior to the campaign, most of the participants surveyed had never heard of Tenoga. Getting the name out and people talking about the class was one of the goals of this campaign.

Limitations

Some of the limitations this campaign had were time constraints, classes not starting until August 2017, and a date change in the main implementation event. At the beginning of the campaign, client Paul Amrein, was not sure when exactly he wanted to start the Tenoga classes. Initially, the Proficient Athletic Performance Agency was only promoting a brand because there

were no classes or events for participants to sign up for. Fortunately, the surveys conducted helped Amrein in deciding when and where he wanted to hold the classes.

Due to time constraints, the campaign was not able to be fully implemented. With classes not starting until August 2017, it was difficult to demonstrate relevancy to the target audience. It was predicted that if the first Tenoga class was to start sometime in May, there would have been more people to sign up for the class.

Another limitation the campaign had was that Mr. Amrein changed the dates of the events that were planned, therefore implementation was not complete. If the events were completed, there could have been an increase of awareness of the upcoming Tenoga class.

Summative Evaluations

Before and after comparisons were utilized for summative evaluation. With the initial survey, new questions were added that would indicate whether the objectives and goals of the campaign were a success or not. Participants were asked in the post- campaign survey how they heard about Tenoga. Also, if they recall hearing about the event on Facebook. These questions gave better understanding as to what implementation was effective.

The second form of summative evaluation was the anecdotal evidence. The director of the Tennis Academy, Paul Amrein delivered very useful feedback. In a letter, Amrein wrote that “The Tenoga Experience” helped to safely launch Tenoga among the city of Savannah. He was really specific and directive in what he wanted out of the campaign. He said that “PAPA perfectly followed our instructions.”

Formative Evaluation

After considering the results of our campaign, we understand that social media could have been utilized in a different way. After conducting the second survey, it was clear that a second event on public courts would have been beneficial since many people said they were playing tennis on public courts more often. More flyers throughout the Academy and around public courts would have grabbed more people’s attention. Also, broadcast and the Savannah newspaper would have been useful for this campaign since the target audience tennis players of the city of Savannah. It would have given us a broader audience and reach more tennis players as Savannah as an important amount of tennis clubs.